Sunday, 22 September 2013

The Mother of all Hauls!

Yes that's right, I popped into town yesterday for something to do and ended up spending a small fortune! If you've been reading my blog recently, you will know that I set myself a challenge not to buy any makeup in the month of September. I've well and truly failed that now but you know what? I work hard for my money so if that's what I want to spend it on then so be it, it just means my savings haven't gone as planned this month!

Primark

Primark was my first port of call and I picked up a few lovely scarves. I'm always seeing ladies wearing these types of scarves but I'd never actually bought one before. I really liked the silver/gold threads running through these so I finally bought some. £4 each isn't bad for style and warmth.

I also purchased some jewellery as they had some really nice things in. Stud earrings are my favourite type to wear during the day so I picked up these 9-packs for only £1.50 each. I chose a gold pack and a silver pack. I think they are really cute and such good value. The necklace with three little hearts, one each in rose gold, silver and gold is also pretty cute (and cheap!) so I had to have that too.

Fenwick

I was doing well as I'd only spent £13.50 so far but then I went into Fenwick and made a rather big decision to purchase a Michael Kors bag! I've been lusting after them for ages and I've had my eye on the totes like this one here but I fancied a smaller bag that I could wear rather than carry. When I spotted this Selma Shoulder Flap bag (link for Harrods), I thought it was stunning. It's a really classic style with gorgeous gold hardware on it. It will go with lots of outfits so I should get my money's worth. I don't normally buy expensive bags so I have to admit it was quite thrilling taking it to the counter and buying it! I definitely want a bigger one like the tote mentioned above but I'll need to wait for that.

Boots

I popped into Boots as I had £26 worth of Boots advantage points burning a hole in my purse so I headed straight for the YSL counter and began swatching lots of lipsticks. In the end I was stuck between a Rouge Volupte Lipstick in the shade 11 (Rose Culte) and a Rouge Pur Couture Lipstick in the shade 61 (Fuchsia Clandestin). They are both pinky red colours but after some advice from the Sales Assistant (who told me the Volupte shade would be too bright for my pale skin - not sure I agree but I went with her choice anyway), I settled on the Rouge Pur Couture. How gorgeous is the packaging?! You gotta love a bit of luxury, especially when you get it for free ;)

After going all out, big style with my designer purchases, I think it spurred me on to go even more wild, cue my forbidden makeup purchases! I started picking up items until I could no longer carry them, then once I had a basket it turned into something like supermarket sweep, putting everything in my basket! Oops!

I love Essie nail polishes so whenever there is a new collection out, Ihead straight to their stand in Boots to have a look. There are 6 shades in the Autumn/Fall 2013 collection and I bought 3 of them. My favourite is 'The Lace is on', a shimmery dark pink-purple shade. I also bought some colours that I don't really have in my collection already, 'Vested Interest' - a blue toned grey, and 'Cashmere Bathrobe' - a dark grey with subtle multicoloured shimmer. Whilst browsing the stand, I noticed a colour I hadn't paid anyattentionto before - 'Tea & Crumpets', a beautiful shimmery nude colour. When you look at stock pictures of this colour it looks awful, nothing like it does in real life!

I picked up my first Maybelline Color Tattoo last month in the shade 'On and On Bronze' and I haven't actually gotten round to trying it yet. I'm so boring and stick to the same choices every day for work and forget to experiment at weekends! Anyway, after reading numerous glowing reviews I added a few more shades to my basket. I went for the 'Metallic Pomegranate' and 'Pink Gold' shades. I'm really looking forward to trying all of these shades as them seem like a good alternative to MAC Paint Pots but for a third of the price or cheaper when you get them on offer like I did!

I think I'm getting towards the end of my current mascara and I've been wanting to try the Maybelline Rocket Volum' Express one so I thought it was a good time to get it. I also ended up getting a Rimmel Lasting Finish Colour Rush lip crayon in the shade 'Give me a Cuddle'. It looks like a nice natural pink colour and it smells sweet so I'm looking forward to giving it a go.

I've bought a lot of makeup brushes lately, well three Real Techniques sets to be exact but I couldn't resist the buy one get one half price offer on Ecotools as the Airbrush Concealer really appealed to me. The second brush I chose was the Tapered Blush brush as it also looks fab. I've heard lots of good things about Ecotools so I'm sure these will be great.

I needed a few essentials whilst in Boots so I picked up my favourite cotton wool pads, the double sided ones as they are strong and don't fall apart when using them. They are good quality and don't scratch your delicate eye area either. I picked up my third bottle of the L'Oreal Paris Skin Perfection 3 in 1 Purifying Micellar Solution as I love it so much. I needed some handwash so I picked up some of the Original Source one as it was on offer for £1. I love the Vanilla Milk and Raspberry scent as I've had it before in the shower gel version and it smells like strawberry milkshake! Yum! I hate, hate, hate buying razor cartridges as they cost a fortune but it had to be done. The Gillette Venus ones are my favourite, sometimes I mix it up a bit and go for the Olay or other types as they all fit the same razor but this time I went for the Embrace ones as they are the cheapest!

I've tried the John Frieda Volume range before but it was a few years ago when the packaging was more of a blue colour than this new turquoise shade. I'm not sure if the formulation has changed but I fancied giving it a go whilst it was on 3 for 2. I chose the shampoo and conditioner, along with the Fine to Full Blow-Out Spray.

Soap & Glory have brought out a new hand cream called Hand Dream so having tried and liked their other two hand creams, I had to give this one a go. I was due a new hand cream anyway so this was a good time to pick it up. The Garnier Body Intensive 7 Day Refreshing Gel-Cream caught my eye on it's offer stand so I ended up going for the Grape version, suitable for normal to dry skin. It was only £1.49 for 250ml so I thought that was a bargain. I really like their hand creams so if this is as good as those, it should be a great product.

New Look

The final shop of my haul is New Look. I headed there as I was hoping to pick up another pair of boots. (See my haul here for the first pair I bought). I love this pair that I got for £27.99 as they don't look really cheap, they don't have a big heel, they seem to have decent grips on the sole, they are from the wide fit range so fit me perfectly and they have a lovely fleecy layer on the inside. Perfect!

Whilst in there I also spotted these black quilted flats with a gold toe in the wide fit range so I decided to grab these too. Very classic looking and will go with my new bag! Not bad for £17.99.

So that brings us to the end of my haul. Hope you enjoyed seeing what I've bought! Please leave any links to your hauls in the comments below as I'd love to see them.

11 comments

Woah! That's an impressive haul! I love that Michael jots bag. It's absolutely stunning. I'd be really interested to hear what you think of the soap and glory hand cream. I'm looking for a new one too and that one could be the one!

I'm literally loving this haul post! It makes me feel less bad about my spending recently!! I love the last set of shoes and might have to go on a little hunt for them next time I'm in town... Also £26 in Boots points is impressive! xxx

Sometimes people say haul and buy a few things, now this is a proper haul! I am insanely jealous of that Michael Kors bag. And you're right, it's your hard earned money, you can do what you like with it haha xxx